Reviewing The New Super Hero Trailers

Sometimes I get more pleasure from a trailer than I do watching the finished movie! One example for me (this is just my personal experience) was Man of Steel. I must have watched that trailer 100 times and was blown away by how inspiring it was. It was full of hope and power and succeed on every level to get me excited for the Superman movie I was about to go to. Suffice to say, to me…the movie didn’t live up to the literal promise made in the trailer but I’ve spoken enough on that (here’s a whole podcast on the topic). Let’s get to it:

Captain America 2: Winter Soldier

Here are my thoughts as I watch this:

The no parachute thing is great. I’m getting bored with heroes who hate what they have to do. Cap is proving he is in his element and loves what he does.

Robert Redford brings a lot of gravitas to this story. His lines have a lot of impact because of who he is.

Seems like this is another “Is S.H.I.E.L.D.going too far” story. I feel like this is well worn territory in the Marvel movies and now Marvel’s Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Teasing Winter Solder bit by bit.

SHEILD has changed since “The Battle of New York”. Looks like they aren’t messing around anymore.

The fight in the elevator reminded me of Cap in Civil War when he fights his way out of the Helicarrier.

Fury looks mad

Falcon looks so cool! I can’t wait to see him in this. It looks like his Ultimate costume but stealthier.

The scale with the Helicarriers is as huge as the scale in Avengers.

The last bit with Winter Soldier…wow. It’s like stepping on Superman’s cape…you don’t touch Cap’s shield!

While I’m not exactly sure what the greater threat (besides Winter Soldier) is, the tone of this movie seems just right. My problem is with the role of S.H.I.E.L.D. being in questions AGAIN. We’ll see.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Overall:

This is not an uplifting trailer to say the least. The X-Men are at their lowest two points in both the past and the future and this desperate act of sending Wolverine back to the past doesn’t have much hope attached to it. That’s where the X-Men live, though. The odds are always stacked against them from all angles and unlike traditional super heroes, they are chiefly concerned with their own survival before they can worry about saving anyone else. The score really sets the tone of this trailer by using John Murphy’s Adagio in D Minor (from the movie Sunshine). The premise seems right on with the source material of Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142 with only the players shifting around. Let’s get into what we see:

The original cast is back! Sure you may or may not have seen the post credits scene in The Wolverine but this is the X-Men movie franchise back in the hands of Bryan Singer and he’s brought back the Cerebro, the school, and all the faces you haven’t seen this X-Men 3.

Teaming up with Magneto is proof that this story is bigger than any threat thus far.

The premise is set. The “war” in the future must be stopped before it begins by sending Wolverine’s mind into his body in the past. This is what Kitty Pryde was sent to do in the original story.

Seeing Bryan Singer’s name in these credits is really all I need to see. He knows how to handle this franchise and it’s a crime they didn’t wait for him so he could have directed X-Men 3.

Now we see that this movie is bridging X-Men First Class with the first three movies. I remember all the talk of First Class being a reboot but this should end that debate once and for all.

Xavier was a “very different man” in the 70s. Without knowing more than what I saw in X-Men First Class, I’m guessing this is due to him being paralyzed by Magneto? He looks haunted and angry in the 70s, which is a very different place for the character.

Wolverine being told by a future Xavier that it’s up to him to change the future from the past reminds me a lot of the premise of the cartoon “Wolverine and the X-Men”. I wish that had a chance to continue longer…

The threat to the White House reminds me of Singer’s previous X-Men movies and seeing Nixon reminds me of Watchmen.

Peter Dinklage HAS to be an amazing Trask. He’s going to bring so much to it because he’s at the top of his game.

Young Xavier is going to be the emotional center that this movie’s arch is going to have to be about. He is resistant to the plan and has the biggest journey to go on.

What’s going on between Magneto and Mystique in the 70s? They seemed on the same page at the end of First Class and were thick as thieves at the beginning of the first X-Men movie. I wonder if Wolverine has messed with their relationship for some reason?

The light that future Xavier sees coming through the windows of the school and the image of future Magneto pushing with his powers…that’s because of Sentinels, right? They aren’t in the trailer probably because they are being put together in post production but…I kind of hope they save them for the movie. We’ve been waiting a long time to see them done right.

That line! “Please….we need you to hope again.” When it comes from Xavier to his younger self…it’s the type of line that only Patrick Stewart can pull off in a way that makes you shiver.

Guardians of the Galaxy Teaser

Comic-Con Footage

When I first heard Marvel was going to make a Guardians of the Galaxy Movie I thought that it was an excellent idea of an animated movie and I was excited to see it. I even mentioned that to someone and they told me I was mistaken and that it was going to be live action. I was confused. How would this property translate to live action and would the regular movie going public ridicule this? Keep in mind, this team has no properties on it that the uneducated has heard of and boasts team members who are a talking raccoon and a tree that repeats his name. It’s…not the most obvious choice. In fact, neither was the choice of Chris Pratt as the star.

A year later, I’ve come around the other side of this. Pratt has range and he has built himself up in ways that have surprised everyone. James Gunn as the director was a real coup. The rest of the cast just kept getting better with the likes of Bradely Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and Glenn Close as Nova Prime! On top of all that, Marvel is hitting all on cylinders these days. They are so careful and through of their properties that I have to give them my trust on this. Above all, I want this to succeed because it’s something different. I want this super hero movie in space to be everything Green Lantern wasn’t. I want a new tone and some new characters so Marvel can continue to try new properties on the big screen. That all said, we don’t have much to go on right now other than this clip from comic-con. It’s just showing off the character designs and that it’s going to be a ton of action with a bit of a more comedic tone (perfect line by John C. Reilly). I can not wait for a full trailer to this!

Justice League: War

Fitting that the last DC animated feature was Flashpoint because this is where the DC Universe goes next in the comics. It’s the debut of the New 52 in animated form (not counting the last scene in The Flashpoint Paradox). This story covers Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s first story for the JLA called “Origins” which introduces the JLA members to each other as well as their first team-up against Darkseid. This story is only two years old and hasn’t had the chance to be seen as a classic story but is certainly a benchmark in the history of the DCU. Let’s check out what this trailer offers:

Right off the bat, it starts with Darkseid who looks tough but Steve Blum’s voice isn’t selling an evil god to me.

Jason O’Mara as the voice of Batman is yet another new comer to a DC stalwart in this movie. I guess a New 52 story is as good as any to start fresh.

Fine with Wonder Woman and Flash’s voice.

I wonder why Wonder Woman has this new costume? It’s not even her New 52 costume (it is the colors, though). Either way, she looks hardcore!

I HATE when it says “Based on the GRAPHIC NOVEL….”. This wasn’t a graphic novel. This was issues of a comic book that were later reprinted. DC is just reinforcing the negativity of the words comic book by avoiding them out of some type of fear.

Cyborg gets his origin from this story just like the source material. I am fine with it. I really like Cyborg’s elevated status in the DCU.

Justin Kirk’s voice as Green Lantern has him sounding pretty young. I guess this is early in his career.

Shazam instead of Aquaman feels wrong to me. I know they want to invest more in the Shazam property now but Aquaman is a really interesting character in this story and a classic JLA founder.

Best line in this trailer: “You’re not just a guy in a bat costume, are you?”

The extra weird New 52 lines in Green Lantern’s costume look unnecessary and just dumb to me.

Jim Lee’s redesign of the Parademons works really well in this.

Darkseid can make his arms glow? Who knew?

Uninspired music and not much of a plot. This doesn’t have me very excited. Looks like a pretty basic story – invasion + everyone meeting for the first time. Maybe it will offer more but this does not have me that hopeful.

Short Box Podcast

Short Box Podcast was founded by Adam Russell and Nick Borelli in July 2012. The website and podcast strives to discuss what we love about geek culture including comic books, video games, television, movies, and table gaming. Follow us on Google+